Death toll rises to 16 after Russian drone strike on Ukrainian shopping mall
Rescuers continue to search through the wreckage of the mall.
LONDON -- At least 16 people have been killed and 130 others injured, including at least 23 children, following a Russian drone strike on a shopping mall in the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, authorities said.
Rescuers continue to search through the wreckage of the mall, and the death toll could rise.
Powerful Russian ‘Shahed-type' drones struck the mall Friday while it was filled with civilians, according to Ukrainian authorities.
"People came to the shopping center for their ordinary business: to shop, to work, or to spend time with loved ones. For Russia, this makes no difference,” Dymtro Lubinets, Ukraine’s Human Rights Commissioner wrote on social media.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the attack was a so-called "double-tap" strike, in which second drone targeted the building after rescuers have begun responding to the initial attack.
Kryvyi Rih is Zelenskyy's hometown, and the Ukrainian president called the strike "absolutely cynical and vile” and vowed a response.
Civilian casualties in Ukraine have risen sharply this year as Russia has further scaled up its aerial attacks. Ukraine’s is struggling to defend against Russian ballistic missiles as American-made air defense interceptors have run out and Moscow is now also increasingly turning to jet-powered drones that are more difficult to bring down. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of Kriviy Rih’s defence council said the second drone that struck the mall was a jet-powered Shahed-type drone.
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